Oral History Interview with Judy Montero
November 20, 2013
Interviewer: Cyns Nelson
Interview Transcribed by Cyns Nelson
[Note: Unlike other interviews for the project, this oral history takes place in Councilwoman Judy Montero’s work office.]
00:00 CN: Today is November 20, 2013. My name is Cyns Nelson, and I’m conducting oral histories about the Globeville, Elyria, and Swansea neighborhoods. This interview is part of the Denver Public Library’s “Creating Your Community” project, and the oral history will be archived with the Western History Department. Right now I’m talking with Judy Montero, who has represented Council District 9 since 2003.
Let’s start by having you tell me your full name, and tell me when and where you were born, and share something about your upbringing.
JM: Okay. My name is Judy Montero—Judy Hinojosa Montero—and we’ve been—I was born in Corpus Christi, Texas.
CN: In what year?
JM: 1952. So I’m 61. My natural father, my biological father, was in the service. Him and my mom got divorced, and she remarried and came to Denver. We came through Manitou Springs, because he was in the service. And we’ve been here since I was—I think it was two. Two years old.
CN: Oh. So, since 1954 about?
JM: Uh-huh. Yeah.
CN: And where is it that your family then settled? What neighborhood did you live in?
JM: Um. We settled in North Denver, over off of 37th and Lipan. It was next to the house where the Carbone family—where their grandparents lived. Most of the members of our family lived really close together. You know, my grandma was like a half a block—we were on Lipan, and she was the matriarch of the family, and she was over just off of the 38th Avenue underpass.
I don’t know how they did this, but my dad’s parents—my grandparents—they were all migrant workers. And somehow they managed to own—to purchase and own—lots of property. And so, they housed almost every family with their property in North Denver.
CN: Uh-huh. So, what elementary school and high school—
JM: So, I went to Bryant-Webster, with all my cousins. Then, we were—I was supposed to go to Skinner, but we were able to buy a house. My dad put down a down payment of, it was like $500 dollars, that he borrowed from my uncle. And they moved over off of 38th and Winona Court. So that was a big, colossal deal. Because the house—my dad still lives in it—but I think he paid $6,000 dollars. And he’s now—I think he’s going to be 82 in April.
CN: Still living there.
JM: Still living there. Still living there, yeah. (Chuckles.) Still, same wallpaper. (Laughing.)
CN: Is that considered part of the Globeville-Swansea neighborhood? What neighborhood is that?
JM: No. That’s over by the old Elitch’s [Elitch Gardens].
CN: Okay. So how is it that you got connected with Council District 9?
JM: So, I’ve always felt really connected to North Denver. At the time we still had lots of relatives still living here. It was really important to my dad that we have our piece of the American dream. And to purchase a house. And for Mexican Americans to move over on the other side of Federal, to where we moved, was a really big deal. In fact, when we moved there, I remember the next-door neighbor just, actually, sitting and throwing rocks at my dad’s car. So, it was a big deal. I think, at that time, there was just one other Mexican-American family that was living in that area, around that. It’s where the old Elitch Gardens used to be, in that area. But I don’t really know the neighborhood.
But, all of my relatives—back to your question—are still grounded here. So, even though we grew up there, I just always felt like this area was my home. Made my first Holy Communion at Our Lady of Guadalupe; and my grandma was still here. The family really sort of started to separate when she passed.
05:00 And then we had another aunt who lived off of 38th and—off of 38th, by Bryant Street. And she became the matriarch of the whole family and kept everybody together. And she just passed a couple years ago. So now the family is sort of waffling, and everybody’s bringing up their own—bringing up their families. But there isn’t that nucleus, or that glue that keeps everybody together.
I came—I always, always worked or lived, or had connections to North Denver. One of my friends at the time, her name was Debbie Ortega. We became friends while I was working on another project here in North Denver. I was a youth counselor. And we became friends. She was working for Sal Carpio at the time; he was the first Latino that had ever been elected to represent North Denver. So she worked with him. And then we just became friends.
And then she decided that she wanted to run for his position, and she did. And I became here aide. I think she was in office for like 16 years.
CN: And what time period was that?
JM: Oh, geez. I’ve been in office—
CN: That probably was in the ‘80s, the mid ‘80s.
JM: Yeah. In fact, she came into office the first time that Denver elected a Latino mayor—that was when Federico Pena came in. And she came in at the same time. So, I stayed working with her for ten years, and then I went on to work for Mayor Webb. I was one of his appointees. But, it was only because I knew that I was going to come back and run for office with this area.
You know, you just get rooted in this neighborhood, and it becomes part of your heart and your emotional well being. So that’s why I felt compelled to run.
CN: Talk about that process of running for City Council. What was that like?
JM: Well, I always knew that I was the best person to represent this area. And I always knew that, just like the sun’s going to go down tonight, and it’s going to come up in the morning, that I was going to win. Because there wasn’t anybody that was in the running that—of course, this is my opinion, my humble opinion—that really knew how to work within the city bureaucracy. You know, how complicated and disjointed it can be. And how, being at the bottom line—which I believe a City Council representative is—that you really CAN impact—of course, you can impact policy and politics, but this job really is more about helping people.
You really need to help the people that elect you, first. Because politics is politics, and it’s going to go on the way it does at City Hall. But, for the most part, people are on the receiving end of those policies and decisions. And we are almost—some days are proactive; some days we’re in defensive mode, protecting the neighborhoods from bad decisions.
CN: Uh-huh. Describe the neighborhood for me—or, the neighborhoods: Globeville, Elyria, Swansea. Somebody who has never seen or visited these neighborhoods—what would they see? Hear?
JM: Well, on a positive: I can’t think of a more—and I don’t mean this in a bad way—a more sense of direction, in terms of how they would like their neighborhood to be. High regard for humanity, and environmental justice. Very loyal to their community. Very diverse opinions about different things—and, you know, that’s okay. But I think part of that has been difficult for decision-makers to sometimes understand. Because it’s not always easy, and it’s not always—it’s just never easy. Everything [in] Globeville, Elyria, Swansea—it’s a heavy lift, because of the different things that have happened to them in the past.
They’ve been—decisions have been made that have dramatically altered their lives and their lifestyle. And it’s happened through generations. So, I understand that fighting spirit. I understand that.
10:15 So, how would I describe it people? Just somebody passing through I-70, maybe they would see Purina and a truck stop. And they would never really think that a neighborhood, or neighborhoods, existed underneath the highway. Then, when they finally do realize—or they get off on Steele, or Vasquez [streets], and they are trying to find their way back to the highway, they’ll begin to see all the different residential houses and the different businesses. Maybe if they even dig a little bit further they’ll be able to see the diverse character. You know, the panaderia, and Mexican restaurants, and little boxing club. Different things that show the values of what people have there.
CN: You said, “On a positive side.” That’s how you started out. Is there a flip side then?
JM: Um. The—let’s see, how do I want to say this—the flip side is that, because there’s been so much distress on the neighborhood, that people are always distressed. Sometimes it’s difficult for them to see that there IS light. One of the things that I always push back on, is: Some will say, “You know, we’re just a dumping ground.” And then you’ll see someone from outside, who is trying to be sympathetic, say, “Well, they’re just a dumping ground.” So, to both messengers of that, I say: You know, you’re NOT a dumping ground. You have raised your family; you’ve purchased a house here. They go to school, they work. People worship here; they walk through the neighborhoods. It’s not a dumping ground.
And to people that are trying to be sympathetic about that—I tell them it’s disrespectful, because it’s not true. I mean, can you imagine? All the several generations, especially since the highway was built—the railroads were already there—but since the highway was built, and all of these other industrial impacts that have come onto the family. Can you imagine? Every day, every day being able to still rise above that and feed your kids, and take them to school, and be involved in their classrooms, and talk to your neighbor, and call if the dogs are running around the neighborhood—or whatever. They still live. They do better than survive there. They do. They’re just tough—and they have to be.
So, to me, that’s very positive. Where do you find a fighting spirit like that? Not very often. People want other people to do things for them. And THERE they don’t. They don’t. They just want equality, and they want to do it for themselves.
CN: You mentioned that a lot of different topics, a lot of different things have transpired around this neighborhood. Let’s talk about some of those. So, I-70—what’s some of the history about I-70 and some of the direction now?
JM: The people from Globeville, Elyria, Swansea have that history down, because they’re still living and breathing it every day. There’s one woman right now whose house is located right next to the highway; and Colorado Department of Transportation currently has an alternative on the table in terms of the future of I-70 and what they do with it. If that happens, then there will be people impacted by whatever the decision for the highway is in the future. The city of Denver also has another proposal for an additional alternative, over at Vasquez and Steele.
CN: So what are the two—the first alternative?
14:53 JM: The first alternative is between Brighton Boulevard and Colorado Boulevard; and essentially it would create—it’s kind of hard to visualize, but—it would suppress the highway, put it further into the ground. It would suppress it. And then, what would be put on top of it would be like a cover, a lid. And it would be in front of the school. Right now they’re looking at green space, and having school and then green space over the lid, and then the highway underground.
CN: Literally, on top of the highway these—
JM: Yeah, yeah. And then the city alternative would do the same thing at the Vasquez/Steele interchange. So, right now at this point in time there’s a lot of mixed reviews about what that would do, because it’s never been done before.
CN: I was going to ask, if there’s a model for that elsewhere.
JM: It’s been done—it’s been done in Seattle, and it’s been done across the board in terms of economics of neighborhoods. There’s even one by Bill Gates’ compound. So, they are doing it. But, because it’s a bureaucracy—right, Colorado Department of Transportation—and people don’t trust what they did to them before.
CN: In the initial I-70 build out.
JM: Right. They don’t trust them now. So, we’ll see what happens with that.
CN: Uh-huh. Do you have an opinion you’d want to share about that?
JM: Um. You know, at this point in time all we’re doing is just trying to—all I’m pushing for at this time is just trying to get all the bureaucracies to be transparent with the people. We owe it to the people of the neighborhood to decide for themselves. But we need to really work on getting them this complicated information, and being respectful by trying to make this complicated information as simple as possible. Because, it’s always so simple, right, to just complicate things. And then you never need to be responsible or accountable for that information.
But it’s something else, to take something that—it’s like looking at a plate of spaghetti when you look at these maps and things—but bring it to a point where it has some common sense and people can understand that. That’s what I’m pushing for right now. We’ve been able to get up to $40,000 dollars in funding from the city of Denver, through this last budget cycle for 2014, to do a health impact assessment—which is a colossal-big deal for me, because there’s been various efforts.
There’s been a lot of efforts done in this particular area, but there’s never really been anything coordinated or meaningful. So now is that window of time. Now is that window when we have the discussions about health-impact assessment and what I-70 and all these other projects that are being talked about—what will they do? Will they improve the quality of life for people? Are we able to make good on stuff that we didn’t do before? Do we want to? That’s the biggest thing. For me, that’s the biggest value of all, is the commitment to social and environmental justice. That commitment to health, and that commitment to political empowerment for the people that live here. They deserve that.
So, we’re working on the health-impact assessment, which through the neighborhood planning process, all of these documents should be somewhere in the future, for people to look at. So we want to make sure that they have a history, in every way. We’re also pulling together a workforce and affordable housing committee. Because, however the highway project goes, there will be people and businesses displaced. And because we’re so close to Adams—because Globeville, Swansea, Elyria are just over the boundary of Adams County and Commerce City—we could easily, if we’re not intentional and careful about keeping people in the neighborhood—they could easily go somewhere else and start a new life.
And I don’t think that’s right. I think we have to make every effort to find land and opportunities within the neighborhood that they live in, where they’ve established their roots, so they can just start all over and continue to contribute to future generations.
20:06 CN: What is the process for actually engaging community in discussions about this issue and other issues.
JM: Well, around I-70?
CN: Yeah.
JM: Well, there is actually a—(light laugh)—there is actually a meeting tonight; a public, open house for people to come and look at all the options—the Colorado Department of Transportation and also the city option for those two covers. And there’s been many public meetings sponsored by C-DOT. And then, you know, the other things that we’ve done is being able to get funding, or budget, or money to do Globeville Neighborhood Planning Document. And then Elyria-Swansea Neighborhood Planning Document.
You know, it’s not sexy stuff, right? You sit and you go through a long process of actually sitting down and asking people: What do you think about this? What do you think about that? What kind of zoning do you want here? What are your—where should the sidewalks be? What’s your vision of this neighborhood? How can we make it more sustainable? How can we preserve your culture? How can we celebrate your spirituality? Because that’s a—you know, all of these things that root people in these communities. And a lot of times, the documents are just—they’re documents. And if you don’t have an infusion of the humanity of the community, then it just becomes a document. And that’s not what makes it live and breathe, in my opinion.
So, we have different efforts going on. Right now, during this window of time, there’s a lot of city resources and a lot of attention going towards the neighborhood.
CN: Uh-huh. So, outside of I-70, what are the other BIG discussion points?
JM: So, National Western Stock Show. The future of what it looks like within the neighborhoods, and how it can serve as a catalytic project. The biggest thing there is that—they’re great; they’re great for the economy, and they capture the Western spirit of the state of Colorado. But one of the struggles has always been, them actually being a living, breathing part of the neighborhood, and how they contribute. So, they’re turning around and slowly moving in a direction that’s more engaging for the community. They’re looking at what THEIR future is and trying to create a master plan, and what that means. They’re talking to Colorado State University, and the Museum of Nature and Science, and other institutions to see how they can work together—if they’re going to study water there in the future; of if they’re going to study agriculture culture.
That’s what they’re looking at right now. So, my big push is: I think that’s great—but, you can’t be an island. You shouldn’t be an island. And as you’re looking at your master plan, what about the idea of having retail stores or things like that, that will actually serve as a benefit to the neighborhood. Because they don’t have a grocery store; they don’t have services. Most of the little shops that try to open up are—you know, they’re all doing it on their own. They’re not getting—I doubt—government funding and things like that. They’re just doing it all on their own.
So National Western. And then there’s going to be a station stop at National Western, a commuter rail line that will be there.
CN: Part of the light rail?
JM: Commuter rail, not light rail, which goes out to Denver International Airport. Just means that it doesn’t stop as frequently and the trips are a little bit longer. But the significant thing about that is that, at one time there was a push to make that line diesel, in a neighborhood that already was impacted by environmental justice issues. So we organized and were able to get our message through, that we didn’t want diesel. And somebody said, “Well, it’s clean diesel.” And I said, “But it’s still diesel!” So, they went in another direction and they went commuter rail, which is electric. So that will help.
24:59 CN: That’s definitely going to happen?
JM: It’s definitely going to happen, yeah.
CN: And what’s the time frame for that?
JM: Oh, gosh. I don’t know what the time frame is for the build out of that east corridor. But in the future it will begin at Denver Union Station and then it will make its way to Denver International Airport, so people can go there. But most of all, as we’re being intentional about the future of these neighborhoods, hopefully we’ll be able to get heads of family, or families, to be able to work and not have to use a lot of their money to buy cars, and pay for license plates and insurance and gas and all those other things, because they’ll have the option of using commuter rail.
CN: How has the human composite of these neighborhoods changed over the time that you have been working with the community? Different cultures as well as different incomes.
JM: It hasn’t. From my vantage point, that wave hasn’t happened yet. Because, as I said, there’s a great deal of pride in home ownership, and pride in culture and history. So they don’t give that up very easily, which I think is just remarkable. I love that about the neighborhood. Now, in the future, as all of these other catalytic projects—Brighton Boulevard, National Western Stock Show, the station stop, the improvement of the river, and the two neighborhood planning documents—as those things are organized and there’s policy choices around it, change is going to come. Change is going to come to them. So I’m just trying really hard to figure out a way to preempt more bad choices in the future.
CN: What’s going on with the river?
JM: Well, they’re just doing—they’re continuing to do improvements to the river. The big part of it for Elyria, Swansea, and Globeville is that there’s no direct connection for them to get to the river. They are completely, also, isolated from this tremendous body of water. It’s a life line. When you look at Denver, and you look at Confluence [Confluence Park], which is over off of 15th—kind of, REI? It intersects with the South Platte River, which you can see right out the window as we’re being interviewed. And South Platte goes all the way north into Adams County and beyond. But every other part of the city gets to enjoy that amenity—except Globeville, Swansea, and Elyria.
Part of going through the neighborhood planning process and the river visioning is: How do we make this connection so that it’s across the board? But if you look at it right now, you wonder: What’s the economics about this? Because, here you have this neighborhood that continues to sort of be isolated. But that will change, in the future.
CN: So, um, what is—what would you say are your central concerning issues about the neighborhood?
JM: In my opinion, there is lots of attention in Globeville, Elyria, Swansea, at this point in time. The neighborhood planning processes are—
CN: Attention from the outside, you mean?
JM: What?
CN: Attention from the out—
JM: Attention from the city. What a concept, right?!? They pay taxes too. So now they’re getting the attention that they need. We’ve been able, in the last year, to accomplish lots of really—lots of things that they should have had to begin with. For example, in the springtime they’ll be getting rollout trash barrels. Which, believe it or not, it was a really big deal to try to get it funded. And now it is. But in other—
CN: Is that common in other neighborhoods?
JM: Well. What’s common in some neighborhoods is: They get rollout barrels; they get recycling barrels; and they even get composting barrels. And in Globeville, Swansea, Elyria, they still had rusted-out, graffiti, ugly dumpsters.
30:01 So there IS an inequity in terms of some of the things that the neighborhood receives and doesn’t receive. But they’re going to be getting that. And then you know, Public Works—just an example of just on-the-ground kind of stuff—even Public Works, Jose Cornejo, even went to the point of putting money in his budget to be able to clean under the highway, and to be able to clean under the bridges in these neighborhoods, because of pigeon poop, pigeon droppings and feathers and things like that. It’s so in-your-face, some of the things that they just want. They just want clean sidewalks. And everything is a heavy lift in Globeville, Elyria, Swansea.
So hopefully we’re making some movement. The neighborhood—they could potentially be overwhelmed by all of these other changes that are coming their way. That’s why it’s just really important to be as transparent as you can. Some of the big decisions coming their way are big decisions for ANY community, regardless of economics. What alternative do you want for I-70? What do you imagine for Brighton Boulevard? What kind of zoning should you have there? What kind of retail? What kind of uses? What kind of street grids—all of these amazing things that basically go with rebuilding and developing these communities.
CN: How did you prepare yourself for the work of trying to understand these issues and manage community involvement?
JM: You know, I don’t know that I’m prepared! (Laughs.) I do really try hard to preempt bad things from happening to them. Because a lot of times this job really is about protecting—protecting the community. I just think it’s a personal responsibility. If I think something’s not good, and I don’t really know yet why but I don’t think it is, instinctively, then I have to—then I’m responsible for pursuing, and trying to make the right decision, and then taking it to the neighborhood. And granted sometimes, you know, there’s disagreement in the neighborhood. And that’s okay.
CN: How is it that you stay in touch with the people from your district?
JM: Well—in this area? Or just in general?
CN: Well, in your district, or in general.
JM: You know, I have two council aides that both do constituent services. So, whenever a call comes in, they will follow up and call 311 and try to get the constituent concerns done. That’s Amanda Sandoval and Nola Miguel. I try really—I try really hard not to be at City Hall all the time, but probably three days a week I need to be there. So they’re my ears and my eyes. The thing about people in Globeville, Elyria, Swansea—they’re pretty good about communicating what they need. There’s times too—for example, right now Nola is working with a group of people that are concerned about the speeding on 47th Avenue, by Garden Place school. So they get on the ground and they try to get that done. If there is something I need to do, for example find funding for two speed trailers and things like that, then we work as a team.
But, it’s—you can never take anything for granted. One day things are okay; and then—you just have to follow everything. You need to take a temperature, every day. In fact, somebody said, “You know, you kind of are, really, an in-the-middle-of-everything kind of councilperson.” And I’m like, Yeah! That’s why I was elected. I wasn’t elected to represent a bureaucracy or to keep business going forward as usual. There’s all kinds of people, all day long, that can do that. But we can’t do that here.
So we try to get—when we get constituent calls, we try to—like, for example, right now Amanda is working with a couple of people. And I ask, go and help them—go down to the Webb building and help them get their paperwork, so they can continue to function in the neighborhood. So we just do what we need to do.
When I got elected, representing over 50,000 people, they didn’t say, “Hey, we’re hiring you to be a good bureaucrat. We’re hiring you to be our voice.” It’s a lot of heavy lifting every day, but both of my council aides are smart—they’re really, really smart—and they’re able to outsmart other people when they have to. But they’re very good about working one-on-one with people.
35:34 CN: A couple of folks who I talked with mentioned the Habitat for Humanity project. Can you say more about that?
JM: Uh-huh. So, the Habitat for Humanity project, they just wrapped up. They did a build in, it was in October, and President and Rosalynn Carter came to Globeville and actually got on site. I was very fortunate to be able to work alongside of them, along with our mayor, and build a house. They built several houses and they also did—Habitat for Humanity also did—an emergency critical need, where they went into houses that needed a new roof or—in Globeville. So Habitat for Humanity has been doing work in the Globeville neighborhood for quite some time.
CN: How did they identify Globeville?
JM: What I understand, from Habitat, is President Carter identified he wanted to come to Globeville.
CN: And you don’t know HOW that happened? It just strikes me as somewhat, small—
JM: Not really. I think that—this is just assumptions, I don’t really know, but Habitat for Humanity went to Haiti, and they took a member of the Globeville neighborhood, Dave Oletski. Dave went and he worked and built housing in Haiti, where President Carter was. I think—the announcement was made that next year—which was this year—that Habitat for Humanity and the Carter family were going to be coming to Globeville. They made that announcement in Haiti. So I don’t know the back story. All I know is that Habitat, and President and Mrs. Carter made a tremendous impact and were able to shine a national spotlight on Globeville.
CN: Uh-huh. Are there folks—specific people from the community—who you want to mention for the different work that they have been doing locally?
JM: Um. Sure, thank you for that. I want to, I can just—well, the elected people: Sal Carpio, who used to be in this position in City Council, District 9; and then Debbie Ortega, who was my predecessor—
CN: She also was District 9.
JM: She was also District 9, and now she has gone on to be elected At-Large. But I hope that her heart is still here. I know that people in the neighborhood still adore her, which is really good. You know, like Margaret and Robert Escamilla, they were one of the first people that I know of that worked on the Asarco case [referring to American Smelting and Refining Company]. And then, a lady named Lorraine Granado, who used to be with Cross Community Coalition, in Swansea. Her family has lots of history here. She even went on to win some national award for her work in social and environmental justice. _____ [?] the Oletski family. And Boogie Mondragon, who worked at—it’s now Street Kidz—but that used to be a recreation center, and he was the director of that recreation center. Then that recreation center was closed down by the City of Denver. And he went on and worked at other recreation centers. His heart’s still in Globeville. He came back and worked with folks to open up an organization called Street Kidz.
Gosh, I feel really—there’s so many people that I want to mention. But they come to mind. But that is in no way dismissing anybody else that I may have forgotten! Because, we work with so many people. Every day, there’s so many heroes and heroines.
40:06 CN: So, kind of forecast, maybe 20 years from now—what do you see this community looking like?
JM: Um. That’s really a good question, because—that’s really a good question, and I just want to say that, as you probably know, Denver can’t grow any more. We’re landlocked. And by that I mean, lots of places are already getting developed—and some would say over developed. There’s places—there’s still lots of land by the airport. But in terms of acreage and land close to downtown … Globeville, Swansea, and Elyria are it. So, having said that: It’s the next frontier for community development in the city of Denver—as far as I’m concerned. Because, it’s so close to downtown. It connects—we’ll have National Western Stock Show, and 38th and Blake. There will be places for people to actually walk and get on commuter rail and have them go to different places. So that is all good.
In the future, my idea is: If—and I don’t know—if the two cap-and-covers [referring to highway rebuild options] are built, and if there is good intention— and by that I mean to bring together both sides of the neighborhoods and have them meet again—then, hopefully, with the kind of development that will go on, it will continue to be—it WILL be mixed income. It just won’t, it won’t be people living in poverty. And we’ve got—with a mixed-income, affordable neighborhood, my hope is that it will continue to be diverse—culturally, and spiritually, and all of the other things that it is today. And that hopefully the generation of kids that are growing up today, they will want to stay in their neighborhood and fix their parents’ house up, or—I don’t know—have a second floor. All the things that families do. And it will go back to the neighborhood that it was before the highway was built.
Because, before the highway was built, it was the ideal community. It had everything. It had care for neighbors; it had little shops; it had a grocery store; it had a post office; it had a little police department. It had all of the things. And when the highway went through, it was like sticking a sword in the heart of those neighborhoods. So my hope is, is that in the future, we will have been able to make good on what—on the poor policy choices that were made in the past.
CN: And, what’s YOUR future?
JM: My future! (Laughing.) I have a 13-year-old daughter; just trying to get her through high school. So, being a mom, you just think: Okay, she got up on time today! (Laughter.) You know, I got her to school on time; she’s got her lunch money; she has a test today. So, I’m just living an hour at a time.
CN: Uh-huh. You’re not going to be representing this—
JM: Actually, I’m termed out, in 2015. So, my staff and I have a lot of groundwork to lay in the next year and eight months. But, we’re working hard.
CN: Any ideas about who might replace you?
JM: None at all. On another note, District 9 has—the original district that I represent today, THAT has changed. You know, Globeville, Swansea, and Elyria will still be part of the new District 9 for the future. But it won’t—it will be more of a north-east type of seat, as opposed to today being a north and west-side seat. So it will be interesting. And I’m hoping that the people that live here in Globeville, Elyria, Swansea will keep all their documents, all their paperwork, and keep all of that, so that whoever the next representative is—that they will lead them.
Sometimes I think a good leader also knows when to just step aside and follow the neighborhood. There’s times when that’s appropriate.
CN: Well, that about covers what I had wanted to ask. Is there anything that you wanted to say, that I didn’t ask about?
JM: No. I just think that, you know, it’s been an amazing honor to represent Globeville, Elyria, and Swansea. They’ve made me a better person—you know, a harder working, push-the-envelope kind of representative. So, I’ve grown a lot, representing them. And I thank them for that.
CN: Well, I can’t think of a better way to end. Thank you very much for taking time to do this.
45:36 [End of interview.]

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Judy Hinojosa Montero was born in Corpus Christi, Texas, in 1952. After her parents divorce, her mother remarried and her step-father moved the family to Denver, Colorado in 1954. Judy attended Bryant-Webster Elementary School in Denver. The family settled at 38th and Winona Court. During the 1980s Judy worked as an aide for City Councilwoman Debbie Ortega. In 2003, she was elected to represent Council District 9. She will remain in the limited term position until 2015.

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Notes

Judy Hinojosa Montero discusses her childhood, family, and how she became involved in Denver politics. She talks about her perceptions of the Globeville, Elyria and Swansea neighborhoods, their histories, the people, the community spirit, the past and future impact of Interstate-70, the future of the National Western Stock Show, commuter rail going through the neighborhood, improvements along the South Platte River, services the neighborhoods received from the City of Denver, and the Globeville Habitat of Humanity project.

Full-Text

Oral History Interview with Judy Montero
November 20, 2013
Interviewer: Cyns Nelson
Interview Transcribed by Cyns Nelson
[Note: Unlike other interviews for the project, this oral history takes place in Councilwoman Judy Montero’s work office.]
00:00 CN: Today is November 20, 2013. My name is Cyns Nelson, and I’m conducting oral histories about the Globeville, Elyria, and Swansea neighborhoods. This interview is part of the Denver Public Library’s “Creating Your Community” project, and the oral history will be archived with the Western History Department. Right now I’m talking with Judy Montero, who has represented Council District 9 since 2003.
Let’s start by having you tell me your full name, and tell me when and where you were born, and share something about your upbringing.
JM: Okay. My name is Judy Montero—Judy Hinojosa Montero—and we’ve been—I was born in Corpus Christi, Texas.
CN: In what year?
JM: 1952. So I’m 61. My natural father, my biological father, was in the service. Him and my mom got divorced, and she remarried and came to Denver. We came through Manitou Springs, because he was in the service. And we’ve been here since I was—I think it was two. Two years old.
CN: Oh. So, since 1954 about?
JM: Uh-huh. Yeah.
CN: And where is it that your family then settled? What neighborhood did you live in?
JM: Um. We settled in North Denver, over off of 37th and Lipan. It was next to the house where the Carbone family—where their grandparents lived. Most of the members of our family lived really close together. You know, my grandma was like a half a block—we were on Lipan, and she was the matriarch of the family, and she was over just off of the 38th Avenue underpass.
I don’t know how they did this, but my dad’s parents—my grandparents—they were all migrant workers. And somehow they managed to own—to purchase and own—lots of property. And so, they housed almost every family with their property in North Denver.
CN: Uh-huh. So, what elementary school and high school—
JM: So, I went to Bryant-Webster, with all my cousins. Then, we were—I was supposed to go to Skinner, but we were able to buy a house. My dad put down a down payment of, it was like $500 dollars, that he borrowed from my uncle. And they moved over off of 38th and Winona Court. So that was a big, colossal deal. Because the house—my dad still lives in it—but I think he paid $6,000 dollars. And he’s now—I think he’s going to be 82 in April.
CN: Still living there.
JM: Still living there. Still living there, yeah. (Chuckles.) Still, same wallpaper. (Laughing.)
CN: Is that considered part of the Globeville-Swansea neighborhood? What neighborhood is that?
JM: No. That’s over by the old Elitch’s [Elitch Gardens].
CN: Okay. So how is it that you got connected with Council District 9?
JM: So, I’ve always felt really connected to North Denver. At the time we still had lots of relatives still living here. It was really important to my dad that we have our piece of the American dream. And to purchase a house. And for Mexican Americans to move over on the other side of Federal, to where we moved, was a really big deal. In fact, when we moved there, I remember the next-door neighbor just, actually, sitting and throwing rocks at my dad’s car. So, it was a big deal. I think, at that time, there was just one other Mexican-American family that was living in that area, around that. It’s where the old Elitch Gardens used to be, in that area. But I don’t really know the neighborhood.
But, all of my relatives—back to your question—are still grounded here. So, even though we grew up there, I just always felt like this area was my home. Made my first Holy Communion at Our Lady of Guadalupe; and my grandma was still here. The family really sort of started to separate when she passed.
05:00 And then we had another aunt who lived off of 38th and—off of 38th, by Bryant Street. And she became the matriarch of the whole family and kept everybody together. And she just passed a couple years ago. So now the family is sort of waffling, and everybody’s bringing up their own—bringing up their families. But there isn’t that nucleus, or that glue that keeps everybody together.
I came—I always, always worked or lived, or had connections to North Denver. One of my friends at the time, her name was Debbie Ortega. We became friends while I was working on another project here in North Denver. I was a youth counselor. And we became friends. She was working for Sal Carpio at the time; he was the first Latino that had ever been elected to represent North Denver. So she worked with him. And then we just became friends.
And then she decided that she wanted to run for his position, and she did. And I became here aide. I think she was in office for like 16 years.
CN: And what time period was that?
JM: Oh, geez. I’ve been in office—
CN: That probably was in the ‘80s, the mid ‘80s.
JM: Yeah. In fact, she came into office the first time that Denver elected a Latino mayor—that was when Federico Pena came in. And she came in at the same time. So, I stayed working with her for ten years, and then I went on to work for Mayor Webb. I was one of his appointees. But, it was only because I knew that I was going to come back and run for office with this area.
You know, you just get rooted in this neighborhood, and it becomes part of your heart and your emotional well being. So that’s why I felt compelled to run.
CN: Talk about that process of running for City Council. What was that like?
JM: Well, I always knew that I was the best person to represent this area. And I always knew that, just like the sun’s going to go down tonight, and it’s going to come up in the morning, that I was going to win. Because there wasn’t anybody that was in the running that—of course, this is my opinion, my humble opinion—that really knew how to work within the city bureaucracy. You know, how complicated and disjointed it can be. And how, being at the bottom line—which I believe a City Council representative is—that you really CAN impact—of course, you can impact policy and politics, but this job really is more about helping people.
You really need to help the people that elect you, first. Because politics is politics, and it’s going to go on the way it does at City Hall. But, for the most part, people are on the receiving end of those policies and decisions. And we are almost—some days are proactive; some days we’re in defensive mode, protecting the neighborhoods from bad decisions.
CN: Uh-huh. Describe the neighborhood for me—or, the neighborhoods: Globeville, Elyria, Swansea. Somebody who has never seen or visited these neighborhoods—what would they see? Hear?
JM: Well, on a positive: I can’t think of a more—and I don’t mean this in a bad way—a more sense of direction, in terms of how they would like their neighborhood to be. High regard for humanity, and environmental justice. Very loyal to their community. Very diverse opinions about different things—and, you know, that’s okay. But I think part of that has been difficult for decision-makers to sometimes understand. Because it’s not always easy, and it’s not always—it’s just never easy. Everything [in] Globeville, Elyria, Swansea—it’s a heavy lift, because of the different things that have happened to them in the past.
They’ve been—decisions have been made that have dramatically altered their lives and their lifestyle. And it’s happened through generations. So, I understand that fighting spirit. I understand that.
10:15 So, how would I describe it people? Just somebody passing through I-70, maybe they would see Purina and a truck stop. And they would never really think that a neighborhood, or neighborhoods, existed underneath the highway. Then, when they finally do realize—or they get off on Steele, or Vasquez [streets], and they are trying to find their way back to the highway, they’ll begin to see all the different residential houses and the different businesses. Maybe if they even dig a little bit further they’ll be able to see the diverse character. You know, the panaderia, and Mexican restaurants, and little boxing club. Different things that show the values of what people have there.
CN: You said, “On a positive side.” That’s how you started out. Is there a flip side then?
JM: Um. The—let’s see, how do I want to say this—the flip side is that, because there’s been so much distress on the neighborhood, that people are always distressed. Sometimes it’s difficult for them to see that there IS light. One of the things that I always push back on, is: Some will say, “You know, we’re just a dumping ground.” And then you’ll see someone from outside, who is trying to be sympathetic, say, “Well, they’re just a dumping ground.” So, to both messengers of that, I say: You know, you’re NOT a dumping ground. You have raised your family; you’ve purchased a house here. They go to school, they work. People worship here; they walk through the neighborhoods. It’s not a dumping ground.
And to people that are trying to be sympathetic about that—I tell them it’s disrespectful, because it’s not true. I mean, can you imagine? All the several generations, especially since the highway was built—the railroads were already there—but since the highway was built, and all of these other industrial impacts that have come onto the family. Can you imagine? Every day, every day being able to still rise above that and feed your kids, and take them to school, and be involved in their classrooms, and talk to your neighbor, and call if the dogs are running around the neighborhood—or whatever. They still live. They do better than survive there. They do. They’re just tough—and they have to be.
So, to me, that’s very positive. Where do you find a fighting spirit like that? Not very often. People want other people to do things for them. And THERE they don’t. They don’t. They just want equality, and they want to do it for themselves.
CN: You mentioned that a lot of different topics, a lot of different things have transpired around this neighborhood. Let’s talk about some of those. So, I-70—what’s some of the history about I-70 and some of the direction now?
JM: The people from Globeville, Elyria, Swansea have that history down, because they’re still living and breathing it every day. There’s one woman right now whose house is located right next to the highway; and Colorado Department of Transportation currently has an alternative on the table in terms of the future of I-70 and what they do with it. If that happens, then there will be people impacted by whatever the decision for the highway is in the future. The city of Denver also has another proposal for an additional alternative, over at Vasquez and Steele.
CN: So what are the two—the first alternative?
14:53 JM: The first alternative is between Brighton Boulevard and Colorado Boulevard; and essentially it would create—it’s kind of hard to visualize, but—it would suppress the highway, put it further into the ground. It would suppress it. And then, what would be put on top of it would be like a cover, a lid. And it would be in front of the school. Right now they’re looking at green space, and having school and then green space over the lid, and then the highway underground.
CN: Literally, on top of the highway these—
JM: Yeah, yeah. And then the city alternative would do the same thing at the Vasquez/Steele interchange. So, right now at this point in time there’s a lot of mixed reviews about what that would do, because it’s never been done before.
CN: I was going to ask, if there’s a model for that elsewhere.
JM: It’s been done—it’s been done in Seattle, and it’s been done across the board in terms of economics of neighborhoods. There’s even one by Bill Gates’ compound. So, they are doing it. But, because it’s a bureaucracy—right, Colorado Department of Transportation—and people don’t trust what they did to them before.
CN: In the initial I-70 build out.
JM: Right. They don’t trust them now. So, we’ll see what happens with that.
CN: Uh-huh. Do you have an opinion you’d want to share about that?
JM: Um. You know, at this point in time all we’re doing is just trying to—all I’m pushing for at this time is just trying to get all the bureaucracies to be transparent with the people. We owe it to the people of the neighborhood to decide for themselves. But we need to really work on getting them this complicated information, and being respectful by trying to make this complicated information as simple as possible. Because, it’s always so simple, right, to just complicate things. And then you never need to be responsible or accountable for that information.
But it’s something else, to take something that—it’s like looking at a plate of spaghetti when you look at these maps and things—but bring it to a point where it has some common sense and people can understand that. That’s what I’m pushing for right now. We’ve been able to get up to $40,000 dollars in funding from the city of Denver, through this last budget cycle for 2014, to do a health impact assessment—which is a colossal-big deal for me, because there’s been various efforts.
There’s been a lot of efforts done in this particular area, but there’s never really been anything coordinated or meaningful. So now is that window of time. Now is that window when we have the discussions about health-impact assessment and what I-70 and all these other projects that are being talked about—what will they do? Will they improve the quality of life for people? Are we able to make good on stuff that we didn’t do before? Do we want to? That’s the biggest thing. For me, that’s the biggest value of all, is the commitment to social and environmental justice. That commitment to health, and that commitment to political empowerment for the people that live here. They deserve that.
So, we’re working on the health-impact assessment, which through the neighborhood planning process, all of these documents should be somewhere in the future, for people to look at. So we want to make sure that they have a history, in every way. We’re also pulling together a workforce and affordable housing committee. Because, however the highway project goes, there will be people and businesses displaced. And because we’re so close to Adams—because Globeville, Swansea, Elyria are just over the boundary of Adams County and Commerce City—we could easily, if we’re not intentional and careful about keeping people in the neighborhood—they could easily go somewhere else and start a new life.
And I don’t think that’s right. I think we have to make every effort to find land and opportunities within the neighborhood that they live in, where they’ve established their roots, so they can just start all over and continue to contribute to future generations.
20:06 CN: What is the process for actually engaging community in discussions about this issue and other issues.
JM: Well, around I-70?
CN: Yeah.
JM: Well, there is actually a—(light laugh)—there is actually a meeting tonight; a public, open house for people to come and look at all the options—the Colorado Department of Transportation and also the city option for those two covers. And there’s been many public meetings sponsored by C-DOT. And then, you know, the other things that we’ve done is being able to get funding, or budget, or money to do Globeville Neighborhood Planning Document. And then Elyria-Swansea Neighborhood Planning Document.
You know, it’s not sexy stuff, right? You sit and you go through a long process of actually sitting down and asking people: What do you think about this? What do you think about that? What kind of zoning do you want here? What are your—where should the sidewalks be? What’s your vision of this neighborhood? How can we make it more sustainable? How can we preserve your culture? How can we celebrate your spirituality? Because that’s a—you know, all of these things that root people in these communities. And a lot of times, the documents are just—they’re documents. And if you don’t have an infusion of the humanity of the community, then it just becomes a document. And that’s not what makes it live and breathe, in my opinion.
So, we have different efforts going on. Right now, during this window of time, there’s a lot of city resources and a lot of attention going towards the neighborhood.
CN: Uh-huh. So, outside of I-70, what are the other BIG discussion points?
JM: So, National Western Stock Show. The future of what it looks like within the neighborhoods, and how it can serve as a catalytic project. The biggest thing there is that—they’re great; they’re great for the economy, and they capture the Western spirit of the state of Colorado. But one of the struggles has always been, them actually being a living, breathing part of the neighborhood, and how they contribute. So, they’re turning around and slowly moving in a direction that’s more engaging for the community. They’re looking at what THEIR future is and trying to create a master plan, and what that means. They’re talking to Colorado State University, and the Museum of Nature and Science, and other institutions to see how they can work together—if they’re going to study water there in the future; of if they’re going to study agriculture culture.
That’s what they’re looking at right now. So, my big push is: I think that’s great—but, you can’t be an island. You shouldn’t be an island. And as you’re looking at your master plan, what about the idea of having retail stores or things like that, that will actually serve as a benefit to the neighborhood. Because they don’t have a grocery store; they don’t have services. Most of the little shops that try to open up are—you know, they’re all doing it on their own. They’re not getting—I doubt—government funding and things like that. They’re just doing it all on their own.
So National Western. And then there’s going to be a station stop at National Western, a commuter rail line that will be there.
CN: Part of the light rail?
JM: Commuter rail, not light rail, which goes out to Denver International Airport. Just means that it doesn’t stop as frequently and the trips are a little bit longer. But the significant thing about that is that, at one time there was a push to make that line diesel, in a neighborhood that already was impacted by environmental justice issues. So we organized and were able to get our message through, that we didn’t want diesel. And somebody said, “Well, it’s clean diesel.” And I said, “But it’s still diesel!” So, they went in another direction and they went commuter rail, which is electric. So that will help.
24:59 CN: That’s definitely going to happen?
JM: It’s definitely going to happen, yeah.
CN: And what’s the time frame for that?
JM: Oh, gosh. I don’t know what the time frame is for the build out of that east corridor. But in the future it will begin at Denver Union Station and then it will make its way to Denver International Airport, so people can go there. But most of all, as we’re being intentional about the future of these neighborhoods, hopefully we’ll be able to get heads of family, or families, to be able to work and not have to use a lot of their money to buy cars, and pay for license plates and insurance and gas and all those other things, because they’ll have the option of using commuter rail.
CN: How has the human composite of these neighborhoods changed over the time that you have been working with the community? Different cultures as well as different incomes.
JM: It hasn’t. From my vantage point, that wave hasn’t happened yet. Because, as I said, there’s a great deal of pride in home ownership, and pride in culture and history. So they don’t give that up very easily, which I think is just remarkable. I love that about the neighborhood. Now, in the future, as all of these other catalytic projects—Brighton Boulevard, National Western Stock Show, the station stop, the improvement of the river, and the two neighborhood planning documents—as those things are organized and there’s policy choices around it, change is going to come. Change is going to come to them. So I’m just trying really hard to figure out a way to preempt more bad choices in the future.
CN: What’s going on with the river?
JM: Well, they’re just doing—they’re continuing to do improvements to the river. The big part of it for Elyria, Swansea, and Globeville is that there’s no direct connection for them to get to the river. They are completely, also, isolated from this tremendous body of water. It’s a life line. When you look at Denver, and you look at Confluence [Confluence Park], which is over off of 15th—kind of, REI? It intersects with the South Platte River, which you can see right out the window as we’re being interviewed. And South Platte goes all the way north into Adams County and beyond. But every other part of the city gets to enjoy that amenity—except Globeville, Swansea, and Elyria.
Part of going through the neighborhood planning process and the river visioning is: How do we make this connection so that it’s across the board? But if you look at it right now, you wonder: What’s the economics about this? Because, here you have this neighborhood that continues to sort of be isolated. But that will change, in the future.
CN: So, um, what is—what would you say are your central concerning issues about the neighborhood?
JM: In my opinion, there is lots of attention in Globeville, Elyria, Swansea, at this point in time. The neighborhood planning processes are—
CN: Attention from the outside, you mean?
JM: What?
CN: Attention from the out—
JM: Attention from the city. What a concept, right?!? They pay taxes too. So now they’re getting the attention that they need. We’ve been able, in the last year, to accomplish lots of really—lots of things that they should have had to begin with. For example, in the springtime they’ll be getting rollout trash barrels. Which, believe it or not, it was a really big deal to try to get it funded. And now it is. But in other—
CN: Is that common in other neighborhoods?
JM: Well. What’s common in some neighborhoods is: They get rollout barrels; they get recycling barrels; and they even get composting barrels. And in Globeville, Swansea, Elyria, they still had rusted-out, graffiti, ugly dumpsters.
30:01 So there IS an inequity in terms of some of the things that the neighborhood receives and doesn’t receive. But they’re going to be getting that. And then you know, Public Works—just an example of just on-the-ground kind of stuff—even Public Works, Jose Cornejo, even went to the point of putting money in his budget to be able to clean under the highway, and to be able to clean under the bridges in these neighborhoods, because of pigeon poop, pigeon droppings and feathers and things like that. It’s so in-your-face, some of the things that they just want. They just want clean sidewalks. And everything is a heavy lift in Globeville, Elyria, Swansea.
So hopefully we’re making some movement. The neighborhood—they could potentially be overwhelmed by all of these other changes that are coming their way. That’s why it’s just really important to be as transparent as you can. Some of the big decisions coming their way are big decisions for ANY community, regardless of economics. What alternative do you want for I-70? What do you imagine for Brighton Boulevard? What kind of zoning should you have there? What kind of retail? What kind of uses? What kind of street grids—all of these amazing things that basically go with rebuilding and developing these communities.
CN: How did you prepare yourself for the work of trying to understand these issues and manage community involvement?
JM: You know, I don’t know that I’m prepared! (Laughs.) I do really try hard to preempt bad things from happening to them. Because a lot of times this job really is about protecting—protecting the community. I just think it’s a personal responsibility. If I think something’s not good, and I don’t really know yet why but I don’t think it is, instinctively, then I have to—then I’m responsible for pursuing, and trying to make the right decision, and then taking it to the neighborhood. And granted sometimes, you know, there’s disagreement in the neighborhood. And that’s okay.
CN: How is it that you stay in touch with the people from your district?
JM: Well—in this area? Or just in general?
CN: Well, in your district, or in general.
JM: You know, I have two council aides that both do constituent services. So, whenever a call comes in, they will follow up and call 311 and try to get the constituent concerns done. That’s Amanda Sandoval and Nola Miguel. I try really—I try really hard not to be at City Hall all the time, but probably three days a week I need to be there. So they’re my ears and my eyes. The thing about people in Globeville, Elyria, Swansea—they’re pretty good about communicating what they need. There’s times too—for example, right now Nola is working with a group of people that are concerned about the speeding on 47th Avenue, by Garden Place school. So they get on the ground and they try to get that done. If there is something I need to do, for example find funding for two speed trailers and things like that, then we work as a team.
But, it’s—you can never take anything for granted. One day things are okay; and then—you just have to follow everything. You need to take a temperature, every day. In fact, somebody said, “You know, you kind of are, really, an in-the-middle-of-everything kind of councilperson.” And I’m like, Yeah! That’s why I was elected. I wasn’t elected to represent a bureaucracy or to keep business going forward as usual. There’s all kinds of people, all day long, that can do that. But we can’t do that here.
So we try to get—when we get constituent calls, we try to—like, for example, right now Amanda is working with a couple of people. And I ask, go and help them—go down to the Webb building and help them get their paperwork, so they can continue to function in the neighborhood. So we just do what we need to do.
When I got elected, representing over 50,000 people, they didn’t say, “Hey, we’re hiring you to be a good bureaucrat. We’re hiring you to be our voice.” It’s a lot of heavy lifting every day, but both of my council aides are smart—they’re really, really smart—and they’re able to outsmart other people when they have to. But they’re very good about working one-on-one with people.
35:34 CN: A couple of folks who I talked with mentioned the Habitat for Humanity project. Can you say more about that?
JM: Uh-huh. So, the Habitat for Humanity project, they just wrapped up. They did a build in, it was in October, and President and Rosalynn Carter came to Globeville and actually got on site. I was very fortunate to be able to work alongside of them, along with our mayor, and build a house. They built several houses and they also did—Habitat for Humanity also did—an emergency critical need, where they went into houses that needed a new roof or—in Globeville. So Habitat for Humanity has been doing work in the Globeville neighborhood for quite some time.
CN: How did they identify Globeville?
JM: What I understand, from Habitat, is President Carter identified he wanted to come to Globeville.
CN: And you don’t know HOW that happened? It just strikes me as somewhat, small—
JM: Not really. I think that—this is just assumptions, I don’t really know, but Habitat for Humanity went to Haiti, and they took a member of the Globeville neighborhood, Dave Oletski. Dave went and he worked and built housing in Haiti, where President Carter was. I think—the announcement was made that next year—which was this year—that Habitat for Humanity and the Carter family were going to be coming to Globeville. They made that announcement in Haiti. So I don’t know the back story. All I know is that Habitat, and President and Mrs. Carter made a tremendous impact and were able to shine a national spotlight on Globeville.
CN: Uh-huh. Are there folks—specific people from the community—who you want to mention for the different work that they have been doing locally?
JM: Um. Sure, thank you for that. I want to, I can just—well, the elected people: Sal Carpio, who used to be in this position in City Council, District 9; and then Debbie Ortega, who was my predecessor—
CN: She also was District 9.
JM: She was also District 9, and now she has gone on to be elected At-Large. But I hope that her heart is still here. I know that people in the neighborhood still adore her, which is really good. You know, like Margaret and Robert Escamilla, they were one of the first people that I know of that worked on the Asarco case [referring to American Smelting and Refining Company]. And then, a lady named Lorraine Granado, who used to be with Cross Community Coalition, in Swansea. Her family has lots of history here. She even went on to win some national award for her work in social and environmental justice. _____ [?] the Oletski family. And Boogie Mondragon, who worked at—it’s now Street Kidz—but that used to be a recreation center, and he was the director of that recreation center. Then that recreation center was closed down by the City of Denver. And he went on and worked at other recreation centers. His heart’s still in Globeville. He came back and worked with folks to open up an organization called Street Kidz.
Gosh, I feel really—there’s so many people that I want to mention. But they come to mind. But that is in no way dismissing anybody else that I may have forgotten! Because, we work with so many people. Every day, there’s so many heroes and heroines.
40:06 CN: So, kind of forecast, maybe 20 years from now—what do you see this community looking like?
JM: Um. That’s really a good question, because—that’s really a good question, and I just want to say that, as you probably know, Denver can’t grow any more. We’re landlocked. And by that I mean, lots of places are already getting developed—and some would say over developed. There’s places—there’s still lots of land by the airport. But in terms of acreage and land close to downtown … Globeville, Swansea, and Elyria are it. So, having said that: It’s the next frontier for community development in the city of Denver—as far as I’m concerned. Because, it’s so close to downtown. It connects—we’ll have National Western Stock Show, and 38th and Blake. There will be places for people to actually walk and get on commuter rail and have them go to different places. So that is all good.
In the future, my idea is: If—and I don’t know—if the two cap-and-covers [referring to highway rebuild options] are built, and if there is good intention— and by that I mean to bring together both sides of the neighborhoods and have them meet again—then, hopefully, with the kind of development that will go on, it will continue to be—it WILL be mixed income. It just won’t, it won’t be people living in poverty. And we’ve got—with a mixed-income, affordable neighborhood, my hope is that it will continue to be diverse—culturally, and spiritually, and all of the other things that it is today. And that hopefully the generation of kids that are growing up today, they will want to stay in their neighborhood and fix their parents’ house up, or—I don’t know—have a second floor. All the things that families do. And it will go back to the neighborhood that it was before the highway was built.
Because, before the highway was built, it was the ideal community. It had everything. It had care for neighbors; it had little shops; it had a grocery store; it had a post office; it had a little police department. It had all of the things. And when the highway went through, it was like sticking a sword in the heart of those neighborhoods. So my hope is, is that in the future, we will have been able to make good on what—on the poor policy choices that were made in the past.
CN: And, what’s YOUR future?
JM: My future! (Laughing.) I have a 13-year-old daughter; just trying to get her through high school. So, being a mom, you just think: Okay, she got up on time today! (Laughter.) You know, I got her to school on time; she’s got her lunch money; she has a test today. So, I’m just living an hour at a time.
CN: Uh-huh. You’re not going to be representing this—
JM: Actually, I’m termed out, in 2015. So, my staff and I have a lot of groundwork to lay in the next year and eight months. But, we’re working hard.
CN: Any ideas about who might replace you?
JM: None at all. On another note, District 9 has—the original district that I represent today, THAT has changed. You know, Globeville, Swansea, and Elyria will still be part of the new District 9 for the future. But it won’t—it will be more of a north-east type of seat, as opposed to today being a north and west-side seat. So it will be interesting. And I’m hoping that the people that live here in Globeville, Elyria, Swansea will keep all their documents, all their paperwork, and keep all of that, so that whoever the next representative is—that they will lead them.
Sometimes I think a good leader also knows when to just step aside and follow the neighborhood. There’s times when that’s appropriate.
CN: Well, that about covers what I had wanted to ask. Is there anything that you wanted to say, that I didn’t ask about?
JM: No. I just think that, you know, it’s been an amazing honor to represent Globeville, Elyria, and Swansea. They’ve made me a better person—you know, a harder working, push-the-envelope kind of representative. So, I’ve grown a lot, representing them. And I thank them for that.
CN: Well, I can’t think of a better way to end. Thank you very much for taking time to do this.
45:36 [End of interview.]